Simon Kuznets
Russian-American economist who developed GDP measurement and inequality studies.
Most quoted
"Economic growth is a long-term rise in capacity to supply increasingly diverse economic goods to its population, this growing capacity based on advancing technology and the institutional and ideological adjustments that it demands."
— from Economic Growth of Nations: Total Output and Production Structure, 1971
"The volume of goods and services produced by a nation in any given period, when measured in monetary terms, is the most comprehensive single measure of its economic performance."
— from National Income, 1929-1932, 1934
"The main reason for the difficulties in measuring national income is that it is not a simple sum of individual incomes, but a complex aggregate of various economic activities."
— from National Income and Capital Formation, 1919-1935, 1937
All quotes by Simon Kuznets (98)
Econometrics is poetry in numbers.
The depression showed us the fragility of markets.
True freedom comes with economic security.
I wish I had quantified joy as well as output.
Democracy thrives on economic stability.
Data collection is tedious, but revelation is thrilling.
The arc of development bends towards justice.
Monopolies stifle the innovation they claim to foster.
Life's balance sheet: assets in relationships, liabilities in regrets.
Quantitative analysis without qualitative insight is blind.
The Nobel is a milestone, not the finish line.
Urbanization accelerates growth but strains society.
Humor in economics: why did the statistician break up? Too mean.
Legacy is not in formulas, but in better lives.
Trade wars benefit no one but the historians.
The human element is the variable we can't measure.
Prosperity shared is prosperity doubled.
In my final days, I ponder: did the numbers add up to meaning?
Contemporaries of Simon Kuznets
Other Economicss born within 50 years of Simon Kuznets (1901–1985).